In a recent earnings call, Verizon has announced that subscribers who have grandfathered into a $30 unlimited 3G data plan will be forced to move to the new Verizon data-share plan expected to arrive in mid-summer. This happens as an increasing number of Verizon subscribers migrate to 4G LTE devices.

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The announcement was made by Verizon Communcations CFO Fran Shammo, who stated: “LTE is our anchor point for data share, so as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan, moving away from the unlimited world. A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited. When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us”. I’m sure many will pick on the last sentence. When will carriers start considering what is beneficial for their customers instead of what is beneficial for their already fat wallets?

It’s obvious that we’re seeing Verizon retracing the steps of AT&T (their main competitor), which has recently started aggressively “encouraging” subscribers of their unlimited plans to migrate to tiered plans. According to Shammo, the new Verizon data-share plan will allow you to add as many devices as you want that will share data caps with other Verizon customers. Shammo said, “If I can add as many devices as I want, that is more efficient from a family perspective and a small business perspective.”

It turns out that if you really want unlimited data, the only carrier in the US that can tend to your needs is Sprint, although it would not surprise us to see Sprint discontinuing their unlimited data plans in the future.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you find it more efficient to pay for exactly the amount of data you use? Drop us a line in the comment section below and share your opinion!